Pipeline Basics

Pipeline stuff is a topic that TD's and 3D people (in particular) talk about a lot in the real world. The reason is that whatever you're working on, using whatever techniques, at whatever scale you always need to be going through a pipeline (even if it's an almost nonexistent one). Since the state of the pipeline will ALWAYS be affecting the quality of your work and your productivity, just a little bit of effort on this front will affect every job you do, usually positively. And I'm not even talking about the nuts and bolts of networking architecture or any heavily technical stuff, which most successful studios also spend a lot of effort and money on.
The main issue I've come across in studio work in NYC (and in almost all student work) is that, because any work you put into thinking about and developing a pipeline will pay benefits in a kind of diffuse way, it seems that lots of people would rather spend that time (and $) doing production work instead because it seems to pay more immediate dividends. The result is that, at some studios I've worked at, there's almost no pipeline or institutionalized workflow at all. Unsurprisingly, the result is that the same issues keep cropping up on every production.
Some things that I see regularly:
1)No naming conventions at all for either files or even folders. This can lead to mass confusion on a big job or even a smaller job, when a new artist has to step in. Where are the files? Which is the latest version? What does this abbreviation stand for? Which files should I reference?
2) No standard for passing files from one dept to the next. Without some kind of publishing system to create master files, the chances for hiccups (or worse) when using references, etc grow exponentially. What is the plan when you're animating and someone realized a modeling change needs to happen? How do you propagate a change from the front of the pipeline through to the end of the pipeline late in the game?
3) Since there's no standardization in naming or methodology, it's very difficult to develop any tools to help facilitate some tedious tasks. Even little chunks of custom code across a studio can be a huge boon to artists and actually prevent a lot of time/effort-draining errors.
4) it sounds obvious, but I spend a TON of time hunting for files, references, and project spec documents just to figure out what I'm supposed to be doing. When you multiply all that time by all the artists on all the jobs, you realize that some studios spend thousands, sometimes tens of thousands of dollars per year on time that artists aren't actually doing anything productive. Studios that deal well with these issues often have things like production calenders for all the artists to see their deadlines (and their interconnectedness to the pipeline as a whole), areas (on a computer or IRL) to look at the most recent/relevant artwork and ref material, an easy to find collection of tools, shaders, and regular team meetings (where input is heard and addressed) during production, etc.
I know it sounds like I'm slagging the studios, but I don't mean it that way. There are lots things involved here. Yes, in some cases there are studio heads are just ignorant of the business they are in (and remember I work in NYC so most of the studios I deal with are relatively small. I doubt there are many big 3D studios that don't take pipeline issues very seriously, certainly none I've worked at). Mostly I see this ignorance with design and 2D studios that are ramping up to try get 3D work. I worked with a studio a few years back that supposedly lost over $200,000 doing a their first BIG 3D job. They hit almost every point I made above in terms of issues with pipelines. They're not around anymore.
But most of the time it just boils down to not making a concerted effort in developing the infrastructure that's required to do 3D work efficiently. MacDonald's and Coke and Walmart and all other successful companies (whatever your opinion of them) are successful largely because they understand their business model really well and make huge efforts to stamp out inefficiencies. MacDonald's may not make the best burger (I'm pretty sure they don't), but they probably make the most efficient burger and that's part of why they are so successful. On the flip side (no pun intended), many of the producers I've worked with over the years know NOTHING about 3D production specifically. How can they possibly be expected to allot the time and people-power to developing a pipeline when they don't know what that even is? Many studios hire producers on a freelance basis. So where would the motivation be to develop in-house tools and other "invisible" things when you're expected to bring in a specific project on a tight budget. Many 3D leads are overworked and don't have the bandwidth in their day to spend a lot of time working  on this either. Coding for specific tools would probably require hiring a specialist, which can cost a bunch of money. Often, no persuasive argument is made for doing this. And of course, money and time are always tight, so things like pipeline infrastructure often are the last things to be dealt with. But in the end it really is like running a burger joint without knowing where you source your meat or potatoes, it doesn't really make sense to ignore your pipeline when THAT'S THE BUSINESS YOU ARE IN!
Lastly (and, in all honesty, mostly the reason I care) is that most of the "lifestyle" issues in this business that adversely affect us all (by which I mean, crazy late hours, lazy and inefficient scheduling, etc) are directly correlated with all that I've mentioned above. In my experience, studios that have really tight pipelines, have almost by definition, a better understanding of the business. They know how long x,y and z takes, they know where their man-power is going and steer it in productive ways and maybe because of that, tend to have more realistic and "human" schedules. I've been on long jobs, where within 20 minutes of sitting down I can spot a month of all-nighters coming from a mile away. It almost always has to do with the thought and effort put in long before I sit down. Obviously, stuff happens and late nights are required sometimes, but respect for the craft and the people who do it can be manifest in a real and tangible way. When a studio spends the time and energy to figure out how to best do the work that they're paid to do, my experience has been that they're also more likely to respect the people who do that work and to treat them that way (I can't speak for MacDonald's in this regard).
A long rant. Whew. So you know, this is also something that I try to talk about with my master's program students, trying to instill some rigor in the process by which they go about their work, whether on their thesis projects, on personal projects and certainly when get into the working world. Process isn't everything, but it sure helps.
Here's a video talking about some of the basics of this (organization, naming, publishing). Nothing very technical or high level, just the basics to get started.

Maya: Pipeline Basics from zeth willie on Vimeo.